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The Wishing Pool and Other Stories: Tananarive Due in conversation with Edward Austin Hall

Event date: 
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm

This event takes place in person at Charis and on crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is required for virtual attendance. Click here to register to attend virtually. Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event.

Charis welcomes Tananarive Due in conversation with Edward Austin Hall for a celebration of The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. In her first new book in seven years, Tananarive Due further cements her status as a leading innovator in Black horror and Afrofuturism.

Tananarive Due is the master of Black horror, even teaching a class where Jordan Peele guest-lectured. So her new collection, The Wishing Poolout in mid-April, is a major treat, full of major scares. Due excels at twist endings but also brilliantly creates an atmosphere of creeping dread in which you know something terrible is coming. The Wishing Pool is helpfully divided into four sections, and each feels like a movement in a symphony. There are classic tales of horror, then a series of stories set in a Florida town where the swamp tends to swallow people up; the final two sections shift to science fiction about post-apocalyptic futures. (These last sections include pandemic stories, written before 2020, which hit harder now.) Due shows just how much territory she can cover in one short book and just how versatile terrifying tales can be.


Washington Post: American Book Award-winning author Tananarive Due's second collection of stories includes offerings of horror, science fiction, and suspense--all genres she wields masterfully. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due's stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope. In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, each set against the supernatural or surreal. All are written with Due's trademark attention to detail and deeply drawn characters. In addition to previously published work, this collection contains brand-new stories, including "Rumpus Room," a supernatural horror novelette set in Florida about a woman's struggle against both outer and inner demons.

TANANARIVE DUE is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. Her stories have been featured on LeVar Burton Reads and Realm, and she is an executive producer on Shudder’s documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. Due and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote for Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone and for Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also co-wrote the Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!

Edward Austin Hall co-edited Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, acknowledged in a front-page NPR.org story headlined “Sci-Fi Has Changed A Lot In The Past Decade—These 7 Reads Will Show You How.” Hall’s novel, Dread Isle, was published in 2020. His novelette Green Treacheries appears in the 2022 anthologyTerminus 2. Currently he is editing some transcribed (and fiery) civil rights–related sermons by the Reverend Doctor C. T. Vivian that are in search of a publisher.

In-person event guidelines: 

  • All attendees must wear a face mask at all times inside the building 

  • We will begin seating people at 7:00 PM ET.

  • This event will be live-streamed via crowdcast. Click here to register to attend virtually.

  • As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

  • If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304

If you would like to watch the virtual event with computer-generated captions, please watch in Google Chrome and enable captions. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org. We are actively learning the best practices for this technology and we welcome your feedback as we continue to connect across distances.

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Event address: 
A Charis Hybrid (in person + virtual) Event
184 S. Candler Street
Decatur, GA 30030
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories By Tananarive Due Cover Image
$29.95
ISBN: 9781636141053
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Akashic Books - April 18th, 2023

In her first new book in seven years, Tananarive Due further cements her status as a leading innovator in Black horror and Afrofuturism


Pre-Order Now Badge
The Reformatory: A Novel By Tananarive Due Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781982188344
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Gallery / Saga Press - October 31st, 2023

A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr.


The Keeper By Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Marco Finnegan (Illustrator) Cover Image
$24.99
ISBN: 9781419751554
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Abrams ComicArts - Megascope - September 27th, 2022

NAMED A BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST
NAMED A BOOK WE LOVED BY NPR

A young Black girl finds herself trapped between desperation and her family’s dark history in this horror graphic novel


Aisha has suffered a devastating loss.


The Between: A Novel By Tananarive Due Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9780060927264
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - March 27th, 1996

“An extraordinary work of humane imagination . . . call it magic realism with soul.”—Locus

“Finely honed . . . always engages and frequently surprises.”—New York Times Book Review


My Soul to Keep (African Immortals series #1) By Tananarive Due Cover Image
$17.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9780061053665
Published: Harper Voyager - April 8th, 1998

"An eerie epic. I loved this novel." -- Stephen King

The award-winning master of horror, acclaimed author, screenwriter, and scholar Tananarive Due’s classic African Immortals series starts with an electrifying piece of dark fantasy, My Soul to Keep.



Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay By Jordan Peele, Tananarive Due (Text by (Art/Photo Books)) Cover Image
By Jordan Peele, Tananarive Due (Text by (Art/Photo Books))
$19.95
ISBN: 9781941753286
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Inventory Press - November 26th, 2019

Jordan Peele's celebrated screenplay combines horror and dark humor to reveal the terrifying realities of being Black in America

Blending race-savvy satire with horror to especially potent effect, this bombshell social critique from first-time director Jordan Peele proves positively fearless.
-Peter Debruge, Variety


Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond By Bill Campbell (Editor), Edward Austin Hall (Editor) Cover Image
By Bill Campbell (Editor), Edward Austin Hall (Editor)
$19.95
ISBN: 9780989141147
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Rosarium Publishing - October 1st, 2013

Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond is a groundbreaking speculative fiction anthology that showcases the work from some of the most talented writers inside and outside speculative fiction across the globe—including Junot Diaz, Victor LaValle, Lauren Beukes, N. K. Jemisin, Rabih Alameddine, S. P. Somtow, and more.


Dread Isle By Edward Austin Hall Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780578780870
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Gumbohaus - December 15th, 2020

Uninvited visitors descend on the remote oceanic research outpost that Tim, Pal, and the boys' teacher, Chu, call home. Surrounded by threats of ominous origin, the three of them must determine who can be trusted, how to survive these multiple dangers, and what their choices mean for the world. The results lead them on a postmodern odyssey into the unknown.


Event Summary: 
In her first new book in seven years, Tananarive Due further cements her status as a leading innovator in Black horror and Afrofuturism.